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Councillor Patrick (Pat) John Stannard, Lord Mayor of Oxford (2004). Note the chain of office.

The Lord Mayor is the title of the Mayor of a major city, with special recognition.

• In England, Wales and Northern Ireland it is a purely ceremonial post, see Mayors in the United Kingdom, list of cities in the United Kingdom, especially Lord Mayor of London (the ceremonial representative of the one square mile small financial district, but with the trappings of a viceroy).

In various other Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations:

• In Australia it is a political position. Australian cities with Lord Mayors: Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle, Parramatta, Perth, Sydney, and Wollongong. See list of cities in Australia.
• In Canada, Niagara-on-the-Lake, as recognition of its role as the first Capital of Upper Canada

• In the Republic of Ireland, the posts of Lord Mayor of Dublin and Lord Mayor of Cork still exist and are symbolic titles as in the UK.
• In the Malaysian federal capital Kuala Lumpur (Federal territory separated from Selangor, since 1 February 1974) established on 1 February 1972

Rendering other languages:

• In Denmark, as the translation of Danish Overborgmester, it is the title of the highest Mayor of Denmarks capital city Copenhagen.
• In Germany, as the translation of German Oberbürgermeister, it is the title of the mayors of large, often county-free cities, whereas Berlin has a Regierender Bürgermeister (Governing Mayor) since that office is simultaneously equivalent to that of a Ministerpräsident (head of government) of one of Germany's constitutive Bundesländer.

• In Finland, the head city manager of the capital, Helsinki, is customarily given by the country's President the title ylipormestari [loosely translated: "high mayor"] (which then generally is much more used of the official than kaupunginjohtaja, the title of the office itself), a tradition that resembles closely the Lord Mayoralties in other countries.